Turkish Grand Prix – After dominating the times on Friday and Saturday, Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton set the fastest time in qualifying, but will not start on pole.
This means that Mercedes’ teammate Valtteri Bottas will start on pole position for the Turkish GP. The Brackley-based squad have elected fit a new internal combustion engine and will be slapped with a ten-place grid penalty. As a result, the Briton, who qualified on pole, will start down in 11th place. With title rival Red Bull’s Max Verstappen only managing second, Hamilton’s teammate Bottas has a good chance to take command up front whist Hamilton tries to make his way through the field.
Likewise, Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz will also not start where he qualified. The Spanish driver will start at the back of the grid after Ferrari changed his entire powerunit in the back of his SF21. As a result, he will start from the 19th place and has a lot of work to do in Sunday’s Grand Prix.
Hamilton fastest but Bottas takes Turkish GP pole
There were some surprise performances on Saturday with Haas driver Mick Schumacher start a career best 14th for Haas, and the US-based teams’ best qualifying session since the 70th Anniversary Grand Prix at Silverstone in 2020. The young German driver has admitted that he enjoyed the tricky wet conditions and is looking forward the the Grand Prix on Sunday.
UPDATED: Daniel Ricciardo will also start from the back of the grid after McLaren opted to change engine components in the back of the Australian’s MCL35M.
Here is how the grid lines up for the Turkish GP:
- Valtteri Bottas Mercedes
- Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing
- Charles Leclerc Scuderia Ferrari
- Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri
- Fernando Alonso Alpine
- Sergio Perez Red Bull Racing
- Lando Norris McLaren
- Lance Stroll Aston Martin
- Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri
- Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin
- Lewis Hamilton Mercedes (PENALTY)
- Esteban Ocon Alpine
- George Russell Williams Racing
- Mick Schumacher Haas
- Nicholas Latifi Williams Racing
- Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo
- Kimi Raikkonen Alfa Romeo
- Nikita Mazepin Haas
- Carlos Sainz Scuderia Ferrari (PENALTY)
- Daniel Ricciardo McLaren (PENALTY)